I did learn something over the summer

[wildman49]

http://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/bob_danc ... 208.cfmNot sure if anyone read this one.I will have to say this even as
I was playing .50 maxing to $2.50 with CS and my other systems in the
late summer, I do get that drawings help in ones yearly score as he
calls it.After some of his posts over the summer I changed my
play to days where I could get 3 times entrees to weekly drawings on
that day. Also there was one day a week where I could put 600 points on
and get more entry's playing a kiosk game. This payed off even for a small player like me as I
did get drawn three times for $500 free play each time. I played it off
and count the winnings into my score for the year. It has made a big
difference along with other free play promos.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=Bob Dancer]One such recreational player was debating my definition of playing video poker with an advantage. I include the game itself, slot club, mailers, promotions, drawings, etc. He argued that including drawings in the calculations was improper because drawings involve so much luck. [/quote]I read this article and thought it was informative. What I was actually referring to is the fact that Bob by his own admission doesn't win "all" his money from the games themselves. This is not really important unless you are a small denomination player and can't understand how Bob can claim to win over $100K a year playing video poker when you can't break even on your own games. As we found out, he does it by counting "lucky" wins like drawings and promotions in his total. It's all good as far as I'm concerned, but I am glad we finally flushed out that myth.

Bob indicates in this article that I am not doing something right because I don't win drawings. Actually I do enter drawings, but at the denominations I play the prizes aren't cars or ocean cruises. I guess the only thing I'm guilty of is not losing enough money to get in these lucrative drawings in the first place. If that's the case, I'm guilt as charged.

Now here's the funny part. I've told everyone on this forum numerous times that my winning strategy over the past three years is based on reducing loses and luck. Bob says that my strategy of relying on luck is not a strategy and that his methodology is all based on skill, cunning, experience, knowledge and whatever other super human powers he wants to shower on himself. Then we learn that he counts winning a car and a cruise in a drawing toward his video poker total. Why is it OK for him to count a lucky win in a drawing toward his total, then turn around and minimize my wins as not being somehow good enough? Four times last year I turned a $20 bill into $1,000 playing single coin video poker. Now that's lucky, but not as lucky as winning a couple of cars and claiming you did it because you're so skillful.

The good thing that came out of this article was the idea that drawings are significant. I paid attention to what he said and am planning to invest more time into them this coming year. If I actually win one, I'll post it on this forum and thank him personally.

[wildman49]

I think BOB would clean up on promos where I play, nobody plays the $5 machines and I see very few at the $1 level. Since I raised my betting system to $1.25 max $5 that should get me closer to more drawing wins in 2016.

[alpax]

I did read that article on LVA the day it was released, but I debated whether to discuss it since FP was mentioned in the article as part of his example.

The drawings is one of the missing pieces (not the main ingrediant) Mr. Dancer was trying to get at to FP to become a more successful player.

My only two arguments against it is:

1. The contest details must be read thoroughly, is it equal entry given to each person at the casino or is it based on play? I know most of the drawings at my nearby casino gives more entries to higher club status, and it is also normally held on Saturdays. Very seldom are there drawings based on play, I am not a high roller enough to play with a significant chance.

2. If it is based on play, the saturation of casinos have a lot to do with the chances a person has to win. A resident in Clark County (Las Vegas and Henderson being the major two cities) in the state of Nevada has access to over 80 casinos, all competitive among each other.

For folks like myself and FP, we may only have 2 or 3 Native American tribal casinos within a reasonable distance. The counties are bigger than Clark and everyone goes to those 2 or 3 places. While Mr. Dancer may be the lone whale in a small lake (I know, analogy does not make sense, I do not know enough to judge if South Point casino is considered to be a small place), these tribal casinos are much bigger than the average (Hard Rock Tampa is the 6th biggest casino in the nation) and the number of players/entries are far diluted. Vegas local casinos do not cater towards the high rollers I see on the winners pictures on HR Tampa website.

Mr. Dancer probably won plenty of drawings at South Point and at the Palms weekly Friday drawings during those Ultimate X DDB play days. I might have read in the past that his chance is so great that he could confidently add these drawings at an astounding 0.2% EV return to his overall play.

I did lurk over the VPFree forums where people have discussed this article too. They brought the fact that Mr. Dancer claimed to average $80,000 a year in winnings from these drawings. They noted that figure has dropped to $20,000 a year on that article.

[FloridaPhil]

I'm sure Bob Dancer is doing fine. I think he is an excellent raconteur who occasionally changes his story to fit, but overall I believe he makes a good living as a gambler. I have never doubted this to be true, I only questioned his claim of making his money entirely from the game of video poker alone. I suppose if he bought a lotto ticket on the way to the casino and won he would claim that as a VP win as well. It all works for him because he is in the business of selling himself as a product. That's fine as long as it doesn't cause you to beat yourself up because you are using different criteria to rank your video poker success and don't measure up to his.

In the morning, we're on our way for a couple of enjoyable days playing video poker at the Hollywood Hard Rock. I plan to have some fun, play lots of video poker, not lose a lot of money and not have to worry if I'm going to get bailed out by a royal flush. I'll be with my beautiful wife and we will relax and enjoy the time together. That's winning as far as I am concerned.

[wildman49]

In the morning, we're on our way for a couple of enjoyable days playing video poker at the Hollywood Hard Rock. I plan to have some fun, play lots of video poker, not lose a lot of money and not have to worry if I'm going to get bailed out by a royal flush. I'll be with my beautiful wife and we will relax and enjoy the time together. That's winning as far as I am concerned. Have a safe trip and good luck!

[alpax]

Good luck FP and the Mrs. there.

Try out the max quarter to max dollar CS (after a 4 credit win) if you are brave enough.